Most consumers in the European e-commerce market are high-spending people, so why are there not as many e-commerce platforms as in Asia and America?
1) Language fragmentation and small market
Due to historical reasons, Europe is a wealthy continent consisting of dozens of small countries, but the overly fragmented cultural market makes it difficult to develop the Internet in Europe.
Germany, the most populous country in Europe, has a population of only over 80 million. Many countries have a population of only a few million, but each country retains its own language and culture. Denmark has a population of only 5 million and the Netherlands has a population of 11 million, but each market has its own unique language and culture.
The Internet is different from the manufacturing industry. Mercedes-Benz and BMW produced in Germany can be sold all over the world without obstacles, but German-language websites cannot even be accessed in European countries. The Internet places great emphasis on speed and operation, so the multilingual barrier in Europe makes the cost of developing the Internet very high. Internet companies in countries like Germany and France can only develop in a small pond like their own country, and it is difficult for big fish to grow in such a small pond.
2) High taxes and high welfare inhibit innovation
Europe generally implements high-tax and high-welfare policies, which inhibit innovation and entrepreneurship. This is also an important reason for the poor development of the European Internet.
In order to be elected, political parties in Europe usually promise a large number of high welfare policies to the people. While such policies make society more equitable, they can also easily make people lazy, making many people unwilling to start their own businesses. At the same time, they also have a certain inhibitory effect on Internet innovation.
In Germany, people in West Germany are required to pay a "solidarity tax" every year to support the relatively backward East Germany. The total amount of this tax is as high as more than 100 billion euros per year. Many cities in East Germany have too much money to spend every year. So much so that after Scotland's independence referendum, many people in Germany's relatively wealthy state of Bavaria also called for independence.
The negative impact of this "big pot" tax and welfare policy reached its peak in some southern European countries. Problems arose in the government finances of Greece, Spain and Italy, which directly triggered the European debt crisis, from which Europe has not yet fully recovered. In addition, the people in these countries are made lazy. No one wants to work, and even fewer are willing to take risks to start a business, making most European countries lack competitiveness in the world economy.
3) High costs, content with a small fortune
The overall cost of doing business in Europe is very high. First of all, taxes are very high, and then employee salary expenses are also very high.
What are the European e-commerce companies?
1.Allegro: Poland, comprehensive, 193.9M;
2. Zalando: Europe, Fashion, 71.3M;
3. Cdiscount.com: France, comprehensive, 61.9M;
4. GittiGidiyor: Türkiye, comprehensive, 50.0M;
5.eMAG: Eastern Europe, comprehensive, 45.3M;
6.Marktplaats: Netherlands, comprehensive, 40.8M;
7. OTTO: Germany, comprehensive, 40.3M;
8. Fnac: Europe, combined, 39.7M;
9.bol.com: Netherlands, comprehensive, 39.5M;
10. ManoMano: Europe, home, 24.4M;
11. Rue du Commerce: France, comprehensive, 18.6M;
12.La Redoute: France, comprehensive, 15.7M;
13.Darty: France, comprehensive, 15.6M;
14.Joom: Europe, combined, 14.7M;
15. Real.de: Germany, comprehensive, 13.8M;
16.Conforama: Europe, Home, 12.3M;
17. Tradera: Sweden, comprehensive, 9.4M;
18.Ricardo: Switzerland, comprehensive, 9.0M;
19.dba: Denmark, comprehensive, 8.8M;
20. Beslist.nl: Netherlands and Belgium, combined, 8.0M;
21. Spartoo: Europe, fashion, 8.0M;
22.digitec: Switzerland, electronics, 7.6M;
23. Privalia: Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Spain, fashion, 6.4M;
24.Aukro: Czech Republic, comprehensive, 5.6M;
25.Wehkamp: Netherlands, comprehensive, 5.4M;
26.ePRICE: Italy, comprehensive, 5.2M;
27. Vestiaire Collective: United States, Europe, fashion, 4.5M;
28.GAME: UK, electronic, 4.1M;
29. Okazii.ro: Romania, comprehensive, 3.4M;
30.Cel: Romania, comprehensive, 2.8M;
This is the end of the introduction to European e-commerce in this issue. If you want to get more information about European e-commerce, please continue to pay attention~
